Vidora, Saskatchewan
Encyclopedia
Vidora is a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
in Reno Rural Municipality No. 51
Reno No. 51, Saskatchewan
Reno No. 51 is a rural municipality in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, located in the Census Division 4, just north of the USA border, and east of the Alberta border, in the southwestern corner of the province...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The hamlet is located between the hamlet of Robsart
Robsart, Saskatchewan
Robsart is a hamlet in Reno Rural Municipality No. 51, Saskatchewan, Canada. The population was 15 at the 2001 Census. The hamlet is located at the junction of Highway 18 and Highway 13 which is also known as the historic Red Coat Trail approximately 170 km south-east of Medicine Hat, Alberta...
and the village of Consul
Consul, Saskatchewan
Consul is a small village located in the Rural Municipality of Reno No. 51 in the extreme southwest of Saskatchewan, Canada along the Redcoat Trail. It features one of the last existing grain elevators in the region.-Demographics:...
on Highway 13
Saskatchewan Highway 13
Highway 13 is a highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs from the Alberta border until it transitions into Highway 2 at the Manitoba border near Antler. Highway 13 is about 676 km long.Highway 13 passes through Shaunavon, Assiniboia, Weyburn, Redvers and Carlyle...
known as the Red Coat Trail
Red Coat Trail
The Red Coat Trail is a route that approximates the path taken in 1874 by the North-West Mounted Police in their quest to bring law and order to the Canadian West.-Travel route:...
. Very little remains of the former village, only one home that is also used as a post office still stands as of 2008. There are many cement foundations still found scattered around the town site, including the remnants of the old bank vault to the former Municipality Office.
History
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
line came through Vidora. Many of the CPR's engineers and surveyors were housed at a local farm house during construction of the rail line. Living at the same house where two girls named "Vi" and "Dora", the engineers and surveyors decided to use the two names to name the land because of their great hospitality, thus giving the town its name "Vidora". After the land was named, settlers as well as bootleggers
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
began to settle the area starting the hamlet of Vidora. By 1917, the hamlet was incorporated
Municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
as a village, and now had its very own town Council
Town council
A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch....
, and mayor. After becoming a village, Vidora began to grow quite fast and prosperous. By 1920, the village business districts consist of more than twenty businesses, including businesses such as a post office, cafe, pool hall, main hall, banks, lumber yard
Lumber yard
A lumber yard is a retail location for lumber and wood related products used in construction and/or home improvement projects. Lumber yards can also provide services such as the use of a planer and other large machines....
s, general stores, a hotel and a spectacular row of 5 grain elevators. Vidora even had its very own electrical power plant, powering the whole town.
Vidora was also active socially, with church and school programs and annual summer fairs.
Prohibition Days
Like most towns throughout Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and Saskatchewan, Vidora began as a small parcel of land owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
. Like many towns of southwest Alberta and Saskatchewan such as Govenlock
Govenlock, Saskatchewan
Govenlock was once a small village of 151 in Reno Rural Municipality No. 51, Saskatchewan, Canada. The former townsite of Govenlock is located on Highway 13 also known as the historic Red Coat Trail, about 15 km east of the Alberta-Saskatchewan border...
, Senate and Whiskey Gap, Alberta Vidora had a fair amount of bootleggers
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
, that came into the area to smuggle rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
, alcohol, and whisky across the border during Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
.
The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
years, with accompanying droughts, falling grain prices and poor crop yields, Vidora's population slowly began to decline. Beginning in 1924 a devastating fire destroyed many important businesses including Vidora’s first store, post office, cafe, pool hall and main hall. Then in 1926 and 1928 more vital businesses would also be wiped out by fire. In 1936 the C.P.R. station closed and afterwards moved to Frontier
Frontier, Saskatchewan
-External links:* on COPA's Places to Fly airport directory* http://schools.chinooksd.ca/frontier/...
. In 1961 the Vidora General Store was moved to Robsart
Robsart, Saskatchewan
Robsart is a hamlet in Reno Rural Municipality No. 51, Saskatchewan, Canada. The population was 15 at the 2001 Census. The hamlet is located at the junction of Highway 18 and Highway 13 which is also known as the historic Red Coat Trail approximately 170 km south-east of Medicine Hat, Alberta...
, then in 1969 the rural municipal
Rural municipality
A rural municipality, often abbreviated RM, is a form of municipality in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, perhaps best comparable to counties or townships in the western United States...
office was also moved to Consul
Consul, Saskatchewan
Consul is a small village located in the Rural Municipality of Reno No. 51 in the extreme southwest of Saskatchewan, Canada along the Redcoat Trail. It features one of the last existing grain elevators in the region.-Demographics:...
as did the Vidora Community Hall in 1976. To mark the end of its long prosperous life, Vidora's five grain elevators closed and were torn down sometime in the 1970s or 1980s.
See also
- Prohibition in CanadaProhibition in CanadaThe temperance movement reached its height in Canada in the 1920s, when outside imports were cut off by provincial referendums. As legislation prohibiting consumption of alcohol was repealed, it was typically replaced with regulation restricting the sale of alcohol to minors and imposing excise...
- List of places with fewer than ten residents
- List of communities in Saskatchewan
- Hamlets of SaskatchewanHamlets of SaskatchewanHamlets are designated by the council of a municipal district or county when a community has a generally accepted name and boundary. Hamlets can contain non-residential areas within their boundaries, and are administered by the municipal districts...
- List of ghost towns in Canada
- Ghost towns in SaskatchewanGhost towns in SaskatchewanThe following is a list of communities that no longer exist or former Villages/Towns that have become unincorporated hamlets in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada....